Ferro Corp. (FOE) Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

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2008-08-19 16:03:14.0

Tags: Ferro Corp.

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from David Begleiter. Your line is open.

David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank

Thank you. Good morning.

Sallie Bailey

Good morning.

Jim Kirsch

Good morning, David.

David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank

Jim, can you quantify the pre-volume you think occurred in the solar conductive pastes, and the impact in both sales and operating profit.

Jim Kirsch

As I mentioned it's really difficult to forecast the what I call the Beijing Olympic effect and it's been such a robust market for the last nine-months. We are anticipating giving some of the closures to factories and what not that the Chinese government has taken, that some customers have pulled forward orders, but we have not been able to ascertain the quantity to add if you will. I don’t think it's a major issue by any stretch of the imagination. I just think, I think they were probably some there.

David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank

And how is the pricing in that product line up well as down?

Jim Kirsch

In the solar conductor paste in general?

David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank

Yes.

Jim Kirsch

We continue to price for value and push it hard, there’s a lot of elasticity there.

David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank

Which means –

Jim Kirsch

We have maintained or improved.

David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank

Okay. And can you say what’s the year-over-year growth was in that product line on sales and operating profit?

Jim Kirsch

On a percentage basis, we have been saying consistently for a while now, that the material side is growing about a 15% compound growth rate and the cell manufacturer side of that is probably closer to 25 and if you look at it in terms of actual megawatts of production, you would see that it was up 40% to 50% year-over-year meaning ’07 over ’06 and ’08 projection over ’07. Then if you look at electronic materials in total, if you take a look in the Q you can figure and do the arithmetic and see what the year-over-year revenue and segment profitability is.

David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank

Fair enough. And Sallie, just on the charges, what is the tax rate you apply to the charges.

Sallie Bailey

Couple of things, you will notice in the Q we talked about one-time items -- discreet items, particularly in Brazil, that caused the quarters tax rate to go up quite substantially. So, when we look at it we apply a 36% hypothetical rate, which would be in the 35% statutory rate in the US plus an additional 1% for sate and local taxes.

 

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